A great misfortune of growing up in the West is that general surveys of history almost completely ignore the East. There’s a story from India that took place in the 1700s that’s just incredible.

We’ve all heard of Gandhi. But what’s less known is why Gandhi is famous. Gandhi was the leader of the Indian Independence movement that lasted from 1915 until 1947. He wanted the British to leave India. Ultimately, he succeeded. But what’s even lesser known is how the British came to power in India at all. This piece will cover a fateful day that gave the British much power – June 23, 1757. But first, a little backstory.

The year is 1756. The Indian subcontinent has been ruled by the Mughal empire for 200 years but that power has dissolved and European countries want to fill the vacuum. The British, French, Portuguese, Dutch and, strangely, Armenians are moving all over India. In eastern India, a prime seat of power is in a place called Murshidabad, about 70 miles north of Calcutta.

The ruler (or Nawab, as they were known at the time) is a man named Siraj-ud-Daulah. For about a decade, the British have been trying to undermine him. They’ve been stealing money and fortifying their outposts against the express commands of Siraj-ud-Daulah.

Finally, Siraj has had enough. He attacks the British in Calcutta at Fort William in June in what becomes known as The Siege of Calcutta. The British commander, Roger Drake, assembles a force of 500 rookie soldiers to defend the fort. Siraj quickly breaches the walls. Drake flees, leaving a surgeon, John Holwell, to remain behind with a small force. But Holwell and his men are overwhelmed by Siraj’s forces and thrown into the fort’s prison – an 18ft x 14ft room intended for no more than 2-4 prisoners at a time. Holwell claims the number of prisoners is 146, although most historians dispute this number, saying it’s inflated and maybe more on the order of 60-70 men. Regardless, a lot of people are in a small space on a very hot Indian summer night. Siraj goes to sleep the evening of June 20, 1756.

Throughout the night, the British prisoners plead with their Mughal captors to move them out of the room. Unsympathetic, the guards do nothing but offer small quantities of water through a tiny window. When Siraj wakes up in the morning and orders the cell opened, dozens of the British prisoners have died from asphyxiation and heat exhaustion. This is the room that becomes known as The Black Hole of Calcutta.

Holwell survives and his account of the incident births a retribution for the massacre. The British East India Company sends Colonel Robert Clive, stationed in southern India, up the coast with 3,000 soldiers to the outskirts of Calcutta to prepare for a battle. But Clive’s forces are outnumbered at least 6 to 1 by Siraj’s 12,000 men. Knowing a battle against these odds is foolhardy, the British begin searching for Indians disaffected with Siraj who may be interested in betraying Siraj and changing sides. They find their man – Mir Jafar.

Mir Jafar was a man known to Siraj. Mir Jafar had served as a brave military commander under Siraj’s father, Nawab Alivardi Khan. But Mir Jafar tried to overthrow Alivardi Khan and was dismissed.

In spite of this, with the British forces now advancing, Siraj forgives Mir Jafar for his prior treachery and asks him to fight against the British. Mir Jafar agrees to help and is placed in charge of one of three divisions for the battle. But what Siraj doesn’t know is that Mir Jafar has cut a deal with the British. Mir Jafar will sacrifice his entire division to the British in exchange for being named the new Nawab of Bengal.

Almost exactly one year to the day of the Siege of Calcutta and the deaths in The Black Hole, The Battle of Plassey begins some 90 miles north of Calcutta. The British, though far outnumbered, easily win the battle. Mir Jafar is named Nawab. Siraj, who flees during the battle, is captured 10 days later and murdered.

The Battle of Plassey in 1757 gave the British full control over Eastern India. The British remained in India for nearly 200 more years – until 1947 when Gandhi finally succeeded in removing them.

In US history, everyone has heard of Benedict Arnold. He was the American traitor who was put in charge of West Point during the American Revolution. His aim was to surrender the fort over to the British. And it would have happened if the Americans had not captured British Major General John Andre who had papers on him that outlined the entire operation. Even today, more than 225 years later, calling someone “Benedict Arnold” is synonymous to calling them a “traitor.” Only Judas’ betrayal of Jesus looms larger.

Think on this, though. Benedict Arnold failed in his plan and his treason is loathed today. Mir Jafar succeeded in his plot and turned Eastern India over to the British. In the East, the most damning accusation of betrayal is to be called a “Mir Jafar.” He sold his people out to the British for his own personal gain. Oh, how history pivots on the fulcrum of such very small moments. The Battle of Plassey lasted a mere 12 hours but ended up affecting hundreds of millions of Indian people. The extraction of wealth off the India subcontinent by the British is a significant reason why such poverty exists in India today. All because a guy named Mir Jafar wanted to sit in a big chair.

Sanjib.

I learn so much about people on these trips.

Sanjib. I’ve known him four years – since he was a little boy. He often has a hesitant smile and you can see that in the top picture. He can be very shy and unsure. We had just gotten off a rollercoaster in that picture.

In the bottom photo, we had been playing swords with our plastic water bottles and he destroyed my bottle, my hand, and my pride. His smile here is full and complete. This is the power of play. Whatever it is that typically keeps Sanjib from fully smiling went away when we played a made-up game.

Martha.

After spending all day at an amusement park here in Calcutta, Martha became so sad on the final ride. She didn’t want to go home.

Martha lives at a boarding school because her home situation is very complicated. And even though life is sometimes difficult for her, I’m reminded it is in the hard places where God really becomes our friend. Today’s sadness is tomorrow’s strength. May God comfort us all in the places we feel weak. And may he bless Martha with every good thing in the kingdom.

Piyas

“Here’s what we used to do,” my buddy Piyas began. “When we were younger and in school, there would be some days when we didn’t want to study. All of the students usually arrived to the classroom before the teacher. So one of us, usually me, would take the blackboard off the wall – it looked very much like this blackboard here” [and he pointed to the blackboard pictured over his shoulder in this photo].

He continued, “We would take the blackboard and smash it on the ground and – BAM – we had a holiday from school. The teacher would come in and scold the entire class and demand to know who did it, but we had such unity that no one ever told. Unable to teach, she would send us home and we would play cricket or football the rest of the day. These are not good things, of course, but what to do? Kids are kids!”

Do you know what the first picture is (upper left)?

How about the second one upper-middle (hint: it’s the same object as the first)?

How about the third one (upper-right)?

No, in our dreams, we’re usually chased by some person (often a shadowy figure) intent on ending our life. Even more peculiar… there rarely seems to be any REASON why we’re being chased. During the dream, we have this emotionally powerful question inside us which is never answered: “WHAT DID I DO? WHY AM I BEING CHASED?”

So why is it we have nightmares?

“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

Sleep is seemingly one of the most peaceful times a human being can experince. But not even sleep is secure from satan. Even there, he and his demons seek to disrupt us. In fact, the suffix “-mare” in the word “nightmare” is an Old English word that described a goblin who tormented people in their sleep. Our ancestors knew the spiritual dimension of dreams.

Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)

Prowling. Chasing. This is what satan does. He intimidates. He terrifies. In our dreams, we haven’t done anything wrong at all. Just as a dog chases sticks, satan chases humans. It’s his nature.

When we chase kids around, it’s fun. We lumber after them to their delight and shout, “I’m gonna get you!” even as they’re yelling, “Betcha can’t get me!”

Kids don’t fear being caught in a game of chase. They know it’s fun. But when satan chases, it’s different. He has malicious intent. Once he catches someone, he destroys them.

And so most of us are terrified of being caught by death. The bible tells us that a result of Jesus coming to earth was to crush satan’s chokehold of psychological warfare.

“[Jesus] shared in [our] humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)

Slavery is a 24 hour-a-day experience. And satan tries to hold us captive in a similar way – even in our sleep. Jesus the Rescuer comes to free us from the wiles, schemes, traps, and brutality of satan.

Jesus comes to chase away the one chasing us.
It was David who was trapped in a cave and appealed to God for help in the Psalms as King Saul chased after him and tried to end his life.

“Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.” (Psalm 57:1)

Jesus is our protection from satan. Our soul’s garage is God. Let our scary dreams be a reminder that satan wants us destroyed. And let us remember we don’t need to wield a sword against satan ourselves. This is God’s battle. We just experience it. His deliverance from evil and pain is a cause for happiness.

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.” (Psalm 28:7)

Oh, Lord, keep us safe from satan. We don’t need a life of comfort, God. That isn’t what we’re after. We want the full life Jesus talked about. We don’t really understand what that means or looks like, Lord. But we want it because it comes from your good hand. We’re lost and lonely and in trouble without you, God. Thank you for sending Jesus to chase away the enemy who chases us.

It’s a scene from Antiques Road Show.

Then this other guy, the appraiser, looks at the teapot and says, “Wow! Well, actually, what you have here is an extremely rare Douglas McIntyre teapot. Douglas McIntyre was a Scotsman and the son of a cobbler who made shoes for wealthy aristocrats. McIntyre learned the porcelain trade from an old Viking technique. No one else during McIntrye’s time made teapots like this because they didn’t know this technique. So his teapots were very sought after in his day by all the upper-class gentry of Scotland – in fact, all of Great Britain, and even as far east as China. If you don’t mind my asking, how much did you pay for it?”

The owner replies, “Well, the funny thing is that I didn’t pay ANYTHING for it. The lady at the sale saw how much I liked it and she just gave it to me.”

The appraiser gasped! “You got it for free!? Unbelievable!! Well, do you want to know how much this teapot would fetch at auction today? In the perfect condition we see it in here, I would conservatively guess this teapot bringing in $2.8 MILLION dollars. Another McIntyre recently sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $2.5 million and this is in far better condition than that one.”

The SURPRISE of Antiques Road Show is what makes it so amazing. And even though this story didn’t happen (I made it up), I bet you found yourself excited at what the appraiser said (and now ANGRY at me because it’s not true :). We love the story of the cheap item that is actually worth a fortune!

But the thing we never hear about on Antiques Road Show is the story of the person who SOLD the valuable items for pennies or, crazier, gave them away. Can you imagine selling something at a garage sale that you think is trash but later realizing it’s worth millions? How must that person feel?

Oddly, I don’t think we need to strain to understand the emotion.

We all give ourselves away. Every day. We give ourselves over to eating too much, drinking too much, sexing too much, socializing too much. We give ourselves over to gaming too much, gambling too much, working too much. And those “buyers” don’t pay a cent for us. We willing give ourselves to them.

People like to call those activities vices (or more dramatically, sins), but let’s be basic in our thinking. When we “sell” ourselves to these “buyers,” we feel good at the initial sale when we put some money in our pocket. But we always end up feeling cheated by them. Why? Because we are VALUABLE BEYOND ALL UNDERSTANDING! They’re not worthy of us!

I don’t care what you look like, what you struggle with, or how you’ve failed. You’re a Ferrari. Because you’re made in God’s image. YOU are the freaking Viking-technique teapot. God says, “You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you…” (Isaiah 43:4).

In a world where we’re consistently made to feel cheap and worthless and forgotten, God sits as not only our Father, but the Chief Appraiser. And how does he value us? Jesus said, “the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Luke 12:7). We’re not forgotten. We’re not cheap. And we’re not worthless. And so we need to stop giving ourselves away to things that aren’t remotely deserving.

Can you see satan laughing!? “LOOK!” he snickers to the demons on a TV show in hell called “Human Road Show.” He says, “I just got this human named James for nothing! He’s worth a fortune and he just gave himself to me because I pretended I was interested in him… Yeah, interested in DESTROYING him!” NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

FLEE FROM THE EVIL OF THIS WORLD, brothers and sisters! Get away, get away, get away. The greatest responsibility we have is ourselves. May we not give our lives away for a pittance!

“If I lose myself I lose it all.” (Naughty Boy – Runnin’)

And even though our society moves fast, it doesn’t mean human beings can change at society’s speed.

You know, it takes about 270 days for a woman to carry a child to birth. Guess how long it takes a female rat? 3 WEEKS. 21 days. More majesty almost always takes more time.

Occasionally, God waves the wand and does a miracle in a moment. It doesn’t often happen that way. So be patient with yourself. God is. Do you know why love is patient? Because God is. “He is patient with you” (1 Peter 3:9). He knows your struggle to quit, heal, and become. Don’t set a pace God himself doesn’t demand. Rome wasn’t built in a day – and how much greater our souls than Rome!

The same is true of the human heart. As the pressure of life squeezes us, our mouth acts as a pathway to discover what’s inside. What comes rocketing out of us is directly related to what is in our heart. “The things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart,” said Jesus. (Matthew 15:18)

And, Christians, beware of your Christian leaders who rarely mention Jesus or God’s kingdom. Driven inside by accolades, admiration, accomplishment, praise, ego, and insecurity, their language indicates where their heart’s allegiance lay. Don’t be swept away in the non-sense. “Hold firmly to the word of life” (Philippians 2:16).

Let us remember that productivity does not guarantee faithfulness. Sometimes productivity is just people getting a bunch of things done. May we spend our precious and difficult hours on this earth under the purifying pressure of God’s good hand and not the pressure of endless deadlines that loom over us like an oppressor. Oh, Lord, help us live!

In layman’s terms, we call this a sucker punch and it infuriates us. In legal terms, it’s called assault. I imagine you have some anger inside yourself about this story.

Now consider this. College and professional football is becoming almost unwatchable at times. The strength and power of the players means that at least once per game, we’re seeing someone go out with a concussion or other major injury. Too many of these hits are occurring on plays where the injured player is defenseless (i.e. not able to protect themselves from a hit). It’s no different than a sucker punch. And yet, I can hear the refrain from people who disagree, “This is a violent game and you’re signing up for hard hits when you play.”

Then what need is there for any rules involving physical contact? Chop blocks? That should be part of the game. Hits in the back? That should be part of the game. Horsecollar tackles? That should be part of the game.
Except they aren’t. Why? Because players get severely injured in those instances.

These defenseless plays are no different. Guys are going down with concussions and season-ending injuries. And it’s affecting them for the rest of their lives!

People say, “Well, back in the day when I played…” Back in the day when we played, we weighed 170 and ran the 40 in 5.5 seconds. These guys are beasts! It’s simple physics of force and deceleration that the way they hit each other now inflicts far more damage than it used to.

My concern about this isn’t logic in the consistency of rules or even protection of players (although that’s part of it). This is a matter of our humanity, brothers and sisters! These men are playing a game. It’s a game. And we care more about our team and the penalty they take (or the “purity” of the game) than we do about the life of the other person. Dude goes down with a concussion and people are in the stands yelling, “THIS IS BULL CRAP!” They’re booing the call when the player who got blown up is lying unconscious on the ground.

We need to be careful in this country. There is no created thing on earth with more honor and glory than another human being. As our games change, our care for people needs to keep pace.